Battle in the Dream Realm
by FlowerofAdversity
Summary: Note: XANA captures all of the boarding students at Kadic, trapping them inside dream boxes to harness the energy from their sleep. He leaves the Warriors behind, but for some strange reason is after Sissi. Perhaps it is because he senses a greater pow


Note: XANA captures all of the boarding students at Kadic, trapping them inside dream boxes to harness the energy from their sleep. He leaves the Warriors behind, but for some strange reason is after Sissi. Perhaps it is because he senses a greater power from her and has mixed emotions of love/lust toward her. This CL fan fic takes place soon after "Une Homme Et Une Femme". Emily is about 2 to 3 years of age and hasn't been told of the secret of Lyoko...yet.

Chapter 1—Lead Into Danger

It had been a fairly calm, uneventful night, except for a passing spring shower that lulled everyone to sleep with its tender melody. The sound of tapping raindrops accompanied even the night owls to sleep. XANA, feeling this was his opportune time to unleash his latest plan, decided to make an appearance on Earth and work out the rest of the details of his sadistic plot as he began to leave Lyoko and teleport to his favorite target to attack: Kadic Junior High School.

The traveling hadn't been so hard on XANA as he had thought. The last return trip the Warriors had made had replenished and rejuvenated him. As XANA made it to his final destination, he began luring the students out with a melancholy tune. To many boarders, the song was luring enough to put them in a trance, but for others that felt threatened, he soothed them into following him with a lesser form of his Oneiro Mist which emanated from his mouth in the form of a dark purple fog. In a subdued level, it would merely mesmerize the children who had formerly been scared and they would begin lining up behind him.

One by one, boarders of all ages marched merrily in their hypnotized state behind XANA, who had a sardonic grin upon his sinister face. The Warriors, however, had not been affected, and didn't even know that XANA was taking the children back to Lyoko with him. As he shut his eyes, those he had chosen had come with him, and were soon led into dream coffins. Morbid though they might've seemed, they were quite accommodating. Despite the appearance of the hematite lids and bases, they were fashioned with covers, comforters and soft pillows. Some were even conjoined for those "couples" for his later plans.

As the children entered the coffins, they soon fell deep into sleep. All the coffins were connected to a series of maroon and dark purple entwining wires leading up to diamond-shaped device that was harvesting the children's energy. If this continued for a long enough period of time, the bodily vessels would be all that remained once the essence was taken from them. XANA stood behind his creation and grinned evilly, the glow from his machine giving his pale skin an eerie aura. He was feeling confident that nothing could stop him from becoming an invisible force of maliciousness.

Chapter 2—Suffer Not, Little Children

Jim, who had been snuggled close to his wife, suddenly felt the urge to wake up. He had broken out in a cold sweat, which wasn't in his character. The only time this happened was when he had a feeling that something was out of place. He was already alarmed. Doing his utmost not to alarm his sleeping wife, he slipped out quietly and began searching the campus. By the time he had made his usual rounds, not even out of breath, he was considerably worried. Susanne, who had only just noticed her husband was pacing in front of the bed could clearly see he was agitated.

"Honey, what's the matter ?", she said, getting out of bed to hug him from the side. The embrace caused him to be calmed somewhat, but he was still concerned about the missing children.

"We need to call the other Warriors. All the boarders have disappeared. And I know who's behind it.", he said, trying to hold his temper back.

"XANA !", Susanne said through gritted teeth. No more words were said between spouses. They would have to find a babysitter for Emily as soon as they could. Soon as that problem was solved, Susanne sent a message on her PAD to Jeremie and the connection had been made with all Warriors, wherever they were.

XANA sat back in his throne, fingers interlaced, watching the expressions on all the children lost in their own dream worlds in their cushy coffins and actually smiled. He was relieved this plan was falling into place so flawlessly. His gloating came to an abrupt end as the Warriors had ritualized a few feet away from XANA and his monstrous device. XANA clenched his fist and gritted his teeth in rage. He knew one thing that would distract the Warriors, and that was the Oneiro Beam. Unlike the mist which at its peak lured anyone who inhaled it into delta sleep, the Beam could either cause those who were struck with it to have dreams or nightmares. But, even worse, the nightmares would take upon a life of their own. Once XANA fired the beam he fell back and watched the nightmares take upon actual form.

Odd, who had astraphobia was now seeing a being who was different shades of yellow in color and had rather pointy hair. When she clapped, thunder resounded. Fearful, he crouched into fetal position and began mewling like an infant, not knowing what to do. Sissi was facing the fear of her own father's anger. Jeremie was facing losing Aelita, and the same fear reversed was being experienced by Aelita. Nicholas faced monophobia, or fear of being alone. Herve faced acrophobia (and that was strange considering the fact he didn't mind climbing up to the ladder in the library to the top row of books, at the height it was). Sam faced herpetophobia, while William dealt with claustrophobia. Ulrich faced necrophobia, while Yumi was overcome with fear of losing her dear Ulrich. Jim, nor Susanne were affected by the Beam, because it hadn't made a direct hit to them.

"They seem to be facing incarnate forms of their fears.", Susanne said, stating the obvious.

It was then Jim had a brilliant idea. He knew that Odd wasn't afraid of his powers when he used them since he knew Jim would be protecting him. He would do the same with each student until their trances were interrupted. He ran over to kiss his wife gently on the lips and caressed her cheek with his thumb and forefinger.

"You gave me an amazing idea, love. You're unbelievable.", he said. She knew what she would have to do at this juncture. She surrounded the students with shields to protect them from any further attacks and XANA was too busy gloating to notice this.

The monster clapped her hands again, causing Odd to cry and scream out in helplessness. Jim knelt down by the boy, keeping lightning from hitting him with his bo staff. He whispered in Odd's ear.

â€œIt's a nightmare. It can't hurt you. I'm here now, don't worry. Dry those eyes, Odd.â€, he said, softly, and then directed the creatures attack upon itself. Wailing, it then exploded into thousands of pieces and Odd had come to his senses.

"Jim, what happened ?", he said, holding his temple as if he had a headache.

â€œI'll explain later. I have to help the others. Try to figure out a way to dismantle the dream machine. Susanne will be your back up for the moment.", Jim said, patting the young freshman on the shoulder. Susanne would be enough help to Odd for the time being, but Jim worked quickly to relieve the others of their demons.

All the while XANA seethed, trying to attack again but he was beginning to become outnumbered.

XANA was growing more frustrated by the minute. The Warriors had been close to trying to dismantle the machine and freeing the children, but XANA began a second attack using the Oneiro Beam. Jim reminded the children that what they would face was only a dream and that they had nothing to fear.

"Are you absolutely certain ? None of this can harm us ?", Herve questioned with a tremble in his voice.

"Yes. Remember, there is nothing that any of us can't do if we all collaborate", Jim said, with encouragement and tenderness in his voice. Herve brightened and realized what his friend and mentor said was the absolute truth. The Beam now was rendered useless as the Warriors bypassed their fear and began to attack XANA's dream machine and free the sleeping children. The children were still asleep, but at least now the slumber was healthy and rejuvenating. XANA felt weak and decided to retreat to his chambers to recharge. It had been a victory for the Warriors, but XANA wasn't through with his scheme yet.

Chapter 3—Ultimatum

XANA was growing weary of trying to fix his twisted machine. No matter what he did, none of it could be put together in the right way. It was beyond his repair. He slammed his fist down on one of the coffins, cursing in futility. But then, an idea hit him. Instead of going for so many different targets, he would go after the one that interested him the most; the one with the purest energy: Sissi Delmas.

Sissi yawned, snuggling under with Niny as she began to go to sleep. She blinked a couple of times and saw XANA in her room. At first, she thought it was her mind playing tricks on her, but it wasn't. XANA had been there, actually watching her. He grasped her arm tightly and smirked.

"You're coming with me, dearest Sissi.", he said, forcefully yanking her from her bed. She tried to release his grip upon her, but it was no use. The more she fought, the tighter the grip became. The anesthetic-like concoction emanated from his lips and soon she was limp as a noodle in his arms. Without making a sound, XANA lowered his head and disappeared from the actual world into the virtual realm with his soon to be "Queen".

Even without the alarm from her morpher functioning, the other Warriors had been alerted to the sudden dead silence that had accompanied Sissi's abduction. The first to notice was Jim, who was more of a father to Elisabeth than even her own flesh and blood, sadly. Susanne could also sense something was out of place, and she had been roused from a peaceful sleep with a sudden start.

"Something's wrong, isn't it ?", she said, taking his strong arm and nuzzling his heart.

"It is, but it won't be for long, my dear.", Jim said, kissing her cheek. She took his hand and they made their way to the abandoned factory.

With Susanne's relay to the others' cell phones, it hadn't taken them long to arrive at the abandoned factory. With their morphers, they had been able to transport into Lyoko without much trouble whatsoever. By the time they had arrived, Sissi was being drained of her energy but it hadn't gotten to the point that she looked as though she was a corpse.

"Drop the girl, XANA.", Jim commanded.

"I think not, _James_. Her pure energy is just what I need...", XANA began before he was punched directly in the jaw by Jim, who had taken Sissi into his arms. XANA had been knocked down momentarily and was out cold for the time being. This gave them all a window of time to put Sissi in a place where she couldn't be reached by XANA or his monsters.

XANA was embittered, madder than he had ever been before.

"Why must we always do this the hard way ?", he asked, cracking his head back and forth to get the kinks out of his neck. Jim gave him a pretty hard wallop, and it wasn't as if XANA hadn't deserved it in the first place. There wasn't any return words or quick quips from the Warriors. They were clearly annoyed with XANA's shenanigans.

"Touch Sissi again and I'll rip your arms off !", Odd threatened. None of the Warriors had ever seen Odd so serious about his girlfriend, but he had finally had enough of XANA kidnapping his beloved Sissi. XANA met the young blonde face to face.

"You'll _what_, little man ?", XANA asked, taunting him.

"_Don't test me._", Odd warned, reading his laser arrows to fire directly at the logo in the middle of XANA's chest. XANA laughed but soon stopped as soon as Odd had shot him. He gasped, railing and grasping at the air.

"Didn't think you'd actually...shoot...", XANA shuddered as he took his last breath and vanished into a thousand particles or more. Once XANA had vanished into dust, Jim had found the blue tower where Sissi was, and carried her out in his arms. Purple, maroon, and magenta ribbons wrapped around her body, and she appeared to be asleep. None of the Warriors were certain as if this meant XANA had really been destroyed, but at least they knew Sissi was safe.

Chapter 4—A Change Within

Sissi had to rest a while before she was restored to her usual self. She had all of her friends, particularly Odd and Jim to thank. It was strange, but there had been a change in Jim in the past and everyone could see it. He had been harboring some painful memories in his heart and mind for quite a while, but he had realized that he had to let all of that go if he wanted to better himself.

There had been an open casting call for a musical and Jim couldn't think of a better way of redeeming himself by hoping to get the main role. It would take a lot of work, but in this manner, he would be apologizing to his friends and colleagues for the manner in which he had been acting for all those years. In fact, there was already a great burden being lifted from him as soon as he had signed up for the casting call.

He would go to rehearsals and work his hardest, whether he made lead or not.

Beyond all expectations, Jim was given the lead role in the musical and he promised family and friends would get front row seats. Susanne had been waiting to hear her husband sing once again, especially the solos in the opening acts. Sitting on the edge of her seat, Susanne anxiously waited for the curtains to open and saw her handsome spouse stood out on stage. Taking a deep breath, he began to sing in a luscious tenor that sounded otherworldly. In the spotlights, he seemed to have an angelic wings taking shape behind him.

"Momma, look ! Wings !", Emily whispered in her mother's ear.

"I know, dear. I see.", Susanne said, her eyes tearing a little bit. Everyone in the audience couldn't believe what they were seeing, but through some miracle, Jim's old self had been exorcised and a new one had taken its place. There hadn't been a dry eye within the entire auditorium when they witnessed this transformation, and a sense of tranquility had washed over every spectator who had seen what had come to pass.

By the time the musical had come to an end, the whole auditorium was awash in cheers and whistles.

The cast had come out to take their final bow, but Jim received the most applause out of any of the others. Jim had trouble keeping himself from tearing up, but his tears were joyful ones. This was only the beginning of Jim's rebirth.

Epilogue

At least now, for the time being, the Warriors wouldn't have to fight against XANA for now. He might've been defeated, but they were unsure for how long, or if he had been destroyed as initially thought. Whatever the case, everyone kept themselves alert, diligent and physically fit to meet the demand of fighting battles and everyday adventures or obstacles that would get in their way. There wasn't any way of knowing what tomorrow would bring, but no matter what lay around the bend, family and friends would remain united to thwart whatever evil had to throw at them. Whether it was an awful dream machine or facing finals, friendship, love and laughter never failed to carry the students and their mentors through difficulty.

The End


End file.
